Fowler played for various senior league teams in his hometown of Saskatoon from 1909 to 1916, appearing in the Allan Cup playoffs in 1916, before turning professional with the Spokane Canaries of the PCHA in 1917. The Canaries, citing poor attendance, disbanded for the following season, and while Fowler had played poorly for Spokane, the defending Stanley Cup champion Seattle Metropolitans were confident enough to sign him as their goaltender. With Fowler at the helm, the Mets won the league championship but were upset in the playoffs by the Vancouver Millionaires.

At that point, Fowler enlisted in the military for the last year of World War I, and when he mustered out of the service, signed with the Victoria Cougars for the 1920 season. He played five seasons in all for the Cougars before being sold to the expansion Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League in October, 1924. Behind a weak defense, Fowler was repeatedly shelled and released by Boston by the end of December.

He signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada Hockey League to finish the season, but took the next year off. Fowler played one more season in Edmonton in 1927, then three for the Oakland Sheiks of the California professional league between 1928 and 1931 - leading the team to consecutive championships his last two seasons - before retiring.